Students reflect on changes in life after Sept. 11

Janice Greene

Published
4:00 am PDT, Friday, September 13, 2002

Teacher's Corner wanted to know if students' attitudes have changed since Sept. 11, and if they see changes in the world around them. Responses are from students at Tamalpais High School, taught by Michael Stuart Rosloff.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the world that had been so perfect and safe was shattered. Everything seemed to be so trivial: skateboarding, going to see my favorite band, and even school. None of it really mattered anymore because for the first time in my life I felt there was someone in this world who really hated me, someone who wanted me dead.

It took almost a year for most of the anger and fear to subside. When that did finally happen, I realized that I had to live because there were people who were no longer able to. I had to live because so many had to die.

My view of the world changed. I felt deaf and dumb, ignorant to the world I lived in. My horror grew as I realized that I was one of the only people in my school who even knew who the
Taliban
were. And even with this small bit of knowledge, I was appalled by my lack of understanding. Nobody should be ignorant of the issues that plague the world.

Elayna Trucker, 15

We believed a superior nation such as the United States could never fall victim to a piddling Third World country with limited resources and inferior technology. Too late we learned that a superiority complex is not all the defense we need. Currently, in our days of heightened security and overall paranoia, I believe we could be attacked again and with just as much ease. Our best plan of defense is not metal detectors and armed guards, but good relations with our "enemies." Terrorism is the stem from which our problem grows. The root of the problem is -- eventually -- us.

Sept. 11 did not affect me at all. Don't get me wrong, I was devastated by the lives lost, but it is overrated. I believe there are many other things going on in the world that need more attention than our few problems. The bombs in Afghanistan killed way more than the
World Trade Center
. The terrorists were not even Afghans. The destruction of the WTC was also a good thing for the government because they got to spend more money on the military and national security. The media does not seem to care about other things that need attention -- such as other nations' problems, which are worse than ours.

We all got close, but it was just for the time being. Now that it has been almost a year, everything is back to normal. There are no big changes in people; everyone still puts themselves before others. I wish the whole experience had changed the way we live, but it just opened us up to reality.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to live in Afghanistan, watching my parents going to war and not coming back. Watching bombs rain on innocent people. I think about how lucky I am to live here. I have been thinking differently about the land of the free.

Dean Pogni, 14

I saw the world divide into two groups. One group consisted of uninformed adolescents speaking freely of hating a culture because of its beliefs, and ignorantly discussing issues that they had no concept of. The other group was made up of individuals who understood what was going on in the world and why. One day the world is going to rely on our generation, and we will not be there to answer the challenge unless the two groups can combine into one.

Bishu Solomon, 16

I think the world has changed for the better. People are watching what they are saying to one another and publicly showing they are proud to be American.

Knowing that my life can be either taken away or ruined, my family has become more cherished and respected. Before the acts of Sept. 11, my father and I were pretty shaky at getting along, but since that day our relationship has become a lot better and made us both a lot happier.

Griffin Moon, 16

Nothing will ever go back to normal after an event that shook the whole world. I find myself constantly worried about what's going to happen next. I feel relieved after I safely get across the
Golden Gate Bridge
. It's ridiculous that in a world where there should be peace and respect between everyone, people fear going to their jobs. Not a day goes by where I don't feel the pain those innocent people experienced as they were being burnt to death or falling through the air after they jumped from the upper floors. Hopefully, the people will eventually have their vengeance for their horrible goodbye from the world. No one should ever forget the image of the panicked passengers screaming as they landed in an explosion of tears and shrieks and finally a cloud of ashes moving up to heaven.

Since Sept. 11, I have seen people of all races putting aside their differences to fight the flames of the WTC, or young children getting together to collect money for the
Red Cross
by selling cookies.

We have come out stronger than before; truly united.

Gardenia Thongsilp, 16

The events of Sept. 11 have shown me the ways in which I am nationally nearsighted. As a result I have worked hard to educate myself about people's lives beyond America and have organized fund-raisers for
Doctors Without Borders
in an attempt to positively affect people who live so far away.

I have noticed that I no longer wish to visit as many places as I used to, because I am afraid that there might be more attacks.

The changes that I see are not good. Sadly, I notice more prejudice toward people of other races, especially toward Muslims. People think that because they are from another country they could become terrorists. I think that people around the world now see more people as the enemy, and want to go to war, not understanding that there are innocent people who don't wish any harm to anyone.

On Sept. 11, 2001, children in New York cried at the sight of their city blanketed in smoke. Families in Nebraska wept for the unknown fate of distant friends. And those of us in California, too far from our country's other coast to smell imagined smoke, too far to know anything but what the news told us, searched for our own way to mourn.

I came to school that foggy morning, well aware of the national crisis, but unable to shed a tear. In truth, I felt very little, though I knew I should. I even longed to experience for myself the pain of my nation. I racked my brain for remote family living near the disaster site and found none. I stood and looked to the east, hoping for a wisp of ash, the smell of blood and fire in the air, and all I saw was the rising sun.

I walked on and listened in on the conversations of others, still searching for some way to relate to the catastrophe. I heard girls in the crowded halls asking their friends if they knew anyone who had worked in the Trade Center. I heard a group of my classmates complaining that the baseball game had been canceled. Though the apparent pettiness of this inconvenience irritated me, I realized that they, too, were only searching for a way to be affected. They needed their own reason to mourn.

As the day wore on, I noticed a consistent undercurrent of pain in the actions of my peers and in my own thoughts and feelings. It seemed to emanate from the very earth itself. I realized that, though everyone might not have an obvious reason to mourn, somehow, we all were. Sorrow darted behind the expressions of my classmates. We were sorrowful for our country. We were sorrowful for our fellow citizens. It didn't seem to matter that we hadn't known them.